Lister Harrell v. J. Nevin Smith

• Court: Court of Appeals of Georgia
• Decided: February 18, 2015
• Docket: A15A1014
• Status: Published

Opinion

Court of Appeals of the State of Georgia

ATLANTA,____________________ February 17, 2015

The Court of Appeals hereby passes the following order:

A15A1014. LISTER HARRELL v. J. NEVIN SMITH.

Prison inmate Lister Harrell filed a civil action against Carter Clements and J. Nevin Smith. The trial court entered an order dismissing the claims against Smith, after which Harrell appealed directly to this Court. We, however, lack jurisdiction. Because Harrell is incarcerated, his appeal is controlled by the Prison Litigation Reform Act of 1996, OCGA § 42-12-1 et seq. Under OCGA § 42-12-8, an appeal of a civil action filed by a prisoner “shall be as provided in Code Section 5-6-35.” And under OCGA § 5-6-35, the party wishing to appeal must file an application for discretionary appeal to the appropriate appellate court. Because a prisoner has no right of direct appeal in civil cases, we lack jurisdiction to consider this direct appeal from the superior court’s order. See Jones v. Townsend, 267 Ga. 489 (480 SE2d 24) (1997). This appeal is therefore DISMISSED.1

1 In addition, we note that the order Harrell wishes to appeal was non-final, as his claims apparently remain pending against Clements. Harrell was therefore required to comply with the additional requirements for an application for interlocutory appeal set forth in OCGA § 5-6-34 (b). Court of Appeals of the State of Georgia 02/17/2015 Clerk’s Office, Atlanta,____________________ I certify that the above is a true extract from the minutes of the Court of Appeals of Georgia. Witness my signature and the seal of said court hereto affixed the day and year last above written.

, Clerk.